Grab your coziest throw blanket and get a big bowl of popcorn… There's a parade of holiday programming coming your way! CBS is running the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on Wed December 2nd at 8pm. If you miss it, you can also catch Rudolph that same evening at 9pm on the ABC Family Channel. They have a whole schedule of fun holiday shows. A few highlights: The Polar Express on Thursday December 3rd at 8:30 pm Frosty's Winter Wonderland on Friday December 4th at 7 pm Jack Frost on Monday December 7th at 10 pm (better TiVo that… Read More

In what might be the biggest injustice ever done to a Twi-hard/ middle aged woman gal in her late-late-late thirties, a person (husband) who has never read any of the Twilight books got to interview the stars of "New Moon." The non-Vamp on the right is my husband. You know the supernatural being on the left. And here's Bella. I had been strictly Team Jacob until I realized that at age 17, the actor who plays Jacob is much closer in age to my seven year old than me. Much closer. Ick. Inside dirt from the Interviewer: Both actors were… Read More

When Max started physical therapy, he was given a set of three goals. Once he reaches all of these goals, he'll be allowed to do a little more physical activity. Setting goals + Reaching goals = Increased Activity. That's the pattern for the next six months to a year. Right now Max is in the "Red Zone." Once he can reaches the first set of goals, he'll be in the "Yellow Zone." Needless to say, he is very motivated. The key factor to success is doing the daily hour or so of exercises at home. Neal is Max's am/pm workout buddy…. Read More

We are busy preparing for the arrival of Papa Arnie and Grammy Viv who are flying in from Chicago this afternoon. Tomorrow we'll go to my parent's home and have a fabulous feast (my Mom is an amazing cook) and celebrate the holiday. Photo from Autumn 2008 In the meantime, I am so thankful: For each new morning with its light,For rest and shelter of the night,For health and food, for love and friends,For everything Thy goodness sends.~Ralph Waldo Emerson Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

I like Pumpkin Pie but this year I was longing for something fresh. Let me introduce you to the Pumpkin Bar. Among it's many benefits are: Individual portions you can make ahead of time (and that look pretty) A light, moist texture Cream Cheese Frosting I like Cool Whip as much as the next person but compared to Cream Cheese Frosting… well the frosting whips the Whip. Here's a link to the Food Network Recipe for Pumpkin Bars (already conveniently in "recipe card" format. Enjoy!

I love the new Home Front line by Studio Calico. It's got a fun retro feel with colors like sunny yellow, sky blue, and sort of a stoplight green. It also incorporates the wood paneling that I seem to remember from the walls of my family room as well as the doors of both my Dad's station wagon and my Mom's red pinto. Hey it was the '70's! Anyway, Home Front also features a lot of fabulous paper with a sewing/fashion feel. So when I saw this little bit of goodness at Starbucks yesterday…. I thought Starbucks + Christian Siriano… Read More

This is a typical photo of Max from a couple of months ago. On this day, Max: 1)Rode his new bike (with gears) 2)Jumped on the furniture 3)Played light-sabers with his sister 4)Threw the frisbee with his Dad and 5)Did the monkey bars at a favorite park All very typical little boy stuff. But that was "before". Now we find ourselves in "after". Since then, we've learned Max has Spondylolysis at his L4 vertebrae. Basically, he has two fractures in his vertebrae about 2 mm apart. It's a pretty serious situation for a seven year old. Symptoms? He complained… Read More

I got the opportunity to spend some time with two of my favorite people recently. Amy Clancy and Michelle Millman. I met these girls years ago when we all worked at KIRO-TV in Seattle. I went freelance after having kids, but these two lovely ladies found a way to successfully balance their work with their family lives. Michelle (the smiley one in the middle) is facing a new challenge. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. A few weeks ago she underwent a double mastectomy after finding cancer in her right breast. The thing about Michelle that's so striking is… Read More

Being a Catholic gal married to a Jewish guy means doing a December Daily (a project that I love) alone is not enough. Even though it's called a "December Daily" not a "Christmas Daily" it just feels Christmasy to me. Maybe it's the Catholic guilt. Or the Jewish guilt. Or maybe it's the challenge of finding fun products that can be used for Hannukah. The end result was that I felt compelled to make a separate Hannukah book last year. Here it is– before the photos and journaling were added. It really did turn out to be a holiday… Read More